Real Madrid aren’t used to this.
After losing 4-0 at home to Barcelona in the Clasico 10 days ago, Carlo Ancelotti’s side fell to a 3-1 defeat to AC Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight in the Champions League.
Malick Thiaw headed Milan in front after a pinpoint Christian Pulisic delivery in the 12th minute, before Vinicius Junior seemed to put his Ballon d’Or disappointment behind him with a 23rd-minute Panenka penalty.
But former Madrid striker Alvaro Morata then restored Milan’s lead in the 39th minute after some poor defending from the reigning European champions. Tijjani Reijnders then capped a brilliant performance with a fine goal in the 73rd minute to complete the win — a late goal from the Madrid centre-back Antonio Rudiger was ruled out for an offside in the build-up.
The loss ended a 15-game unbeaten Champions League run for Madrid at the Bernabeu. Ancelotti’s side have won two and lost two of their four matches in this season’s competition, leaving them 17th out of 36 teams in the league phase before Wednesday’s set of nine games.
So, what went so wrong for them and so right for Milan? Guillermo Rai and Anantaajith Raghuraman break it down.
Madrid’s defence falls short again
Once more, Ancelotti’s team started the game at a disadvantage due to defensive problems.
After a brilliantly taken corner by Pulisic, Thiaw headed past the Madrid defence. Both Eder Militao and Aurelien Tchouameni failed to mark the German centre-back and came nowhere near clearing the danger. Tchouameni was replaced at half-time after being whistled by the home crowd.
Thiaw’s effort was the sixth time Madrid have conceded first in a game this season and the third time that’s happened in the Champions League. They have only kept a clean sheet in one of their past 10 games in all competitions.
Pulisic swings a corner in with Madrid seemingly well covered in the box… (TNT Sports)
But Thiaw doesn’t even have to rise highest to head home (TNT Sports)
It was a far cry from last season’s defensive robustness, when they broke their record for clean sheets in La Liga (20) en route to winning the title. Their attacking and defending from set-pieces were also key in that La Liga-Champions League double. But this was the third goal they had conceded from a set-piece this season, excluding penalties — only two less than in the whole of 2023-24.
After the opening goal, Militao was again forced into a clearance from another Pulisic delivery while goalkeeper Andriy Lunin had to make a good save. Lunin had to talk to Militao after those two moments to get the Brazilian to adjust the defence.
But the problems continued and, despite Vinicius Jr’s goal, the lack of defensive stability continued. Just a few minutes later, a poor pass from Tchouameni led to another Milan attack.
Lunin saved the first shot, but Morata was left alone inside the box and slotted in his side’s second. Madrid have now conceded 18 goals in their 16 matches this season — one of the biggest problems for Ancelotti, if not the biggest.
The poor defending continued after the break, with Lunin having to make a flying save to keep out a Rafael Leao header and Milan finding plenty of joy on the break, and Madrid were cut open again for the third.
Guillermo Rai
How did Vinicius Jr respond to missing out on Ballon d’Or?
On the back of an ineffective display in El Clasico and missing out on the Ballon d’Or to Manchester City’s Rodri, all eyes were inevitably on Vinicius Jr. Milan also opted for a tactical setup aimed at helping right-back Emerson Royal stifle the Brazilian winger, with the help of Yunus Musah.
Madrid’s initial ploy seemed to revolve around switching play to stretch Milan’s defence, with Luka Modric attempting multiple switches and balls over the top. Vinicius Jr met one of those in the second minute, but a heavy touch saw it run behind for a goal kick. In the sixth minute, he played a neat one-two with Kylian Mbappe to create an opening, but the France international could not sort his feet out from Federico Valverde’s cross.
Vinicius Jr’s next involvement in attack came seconds after Madrid went 1-0 down. When goalkeeper Mike Maignan stopped Mbappe’s shot, Milan gave the ball away high up the pitch. Jude Bellingham slipped in Vinicius Jr, whose shot was comfortably saved by Maignan.
His best moment came in the 23rd minute, when he won a penalty as Royal clipped him with a mistimed tackle. Vinicius Jr dispatched it with a cheeky Panenka to bring the sides level.
Vinicius Jr is brought down by Royal… (Manu Reino/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
… and coolly slots home the penalty (Mateo Villalba/Getty Images)
There were some theatrics from him afterwards when Maignan appeared to lightly touch his heel while taking a quick free kick, which prompted former Madrid star Steve McManaman to express his disappointment on commentary for UK broadcaster TNT Sports. Soon after, Tchouameni’s poor pass forward to Vinicius Jr was intercepted, leading to Morata’s goal. While most of the blame should go to the Frenchman, Vinicius Jr chose to berate him rather than track back.
Madrid’s press from the front remained a problem for much of the game, with both Vinicius Jr and Mbappe showing a lack of off-the-ball work. Madrid’s midfielders did not cover themselves in glory either and were often indecisive in closing down free Milan midfielders, but they could have done with more support from their superstar forwards.
Vinicius Jr was also frustrated in the second half. He struggled to see any clear-cut openings himself, while the chances he created, including a great opportunity for Militao late on, were wasted. He also lost a couple of physical battles with Musah and Thiaw, and was booked for dissent after the latter dispossessed him.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Reijnders the key to Milan’s impressive display
Many of Milan’s players will come away from this memorable night with immense credit, but Reijnders was undoubtedly the heartbeat of a thrilling away victory.
Madrid’s absence of pressing once Milan got past their forwards — which did not require too much effort — allowed Reijnders to control the game from midfield. He constantly dropped to receive passes from his defence and was given time on the ball, which allowed him to find Milan’s forwards in dangerous areas.
In the second half, Reijnders showed much more defensive awareness and his ability to dictate the tempo was crucial to Milan not conceding early — an aspect that had doomed Borussia Dortmund in Madrid’s previous Champions League game, where they had trailed 2-0 at the break but ended up winning 5-2. He continued to spray passes across the pitch and, as Madrid poured men forward, spaces opened up for Milan to exploit and his ability to wriggle away from danger was crucial.
That quality ultimately brought Milan their third goal as well.
Some neat work from Tammy Abraham saw Reijnders receive the ball, who was under pressure from three Madrid players. He took a series of quick touches before a burst of pace allowed him to escape them all and find Leao, who bore down on goal then fizzed the ball into the box. Meeting the cutback was Reijnders, who had raced past his inattentive markers. The ball was marginally behind him and came at great pace, but the Dutchman controlled it with ease and, with all the time in the world, slammed a half-volley passed Lunin to make it 3-1.
Reijnders completed all but one of his 52 passes on the night, got two shots on target and won two duels in one of the most accomplished midfield performances in a Champions League game at the Bernabeu since Dusan Tadic pulled the strings in Ajax’s famous 4-1 semi-final win there in 2019.
For Madrid, it seemed like deja vu after Barcelona duo Pedri and Frenkie de Jong toyed with them on their own pitch less than two weeks ago.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Defeat leaves Ancelotti in an uncomfortable position
Just two months ago, in Monte Carlo after the Champions League draw, Real Madrid’s director of institutional relations Emilio Butragueno was asked what their objective in the 2024-25 competition was: “It is very important to be in the top eight (in the final league standings) because we would avoid an additional play-off before the last 16.”
But as of today, Madrid are far from those top positions. After defeats against Lille and now Milan, Ancelotti’s side find themselves in 17th place, with six points from four matches. The future does not look much brighter: their next game is at Anfield against Liverpool, so they will have to try to find their form again if they want to reach the next round without drama, or those two extra play-off matches.
In any case, this latest defeat shows that Madrid have lost their invincibility at home in the Champions League — having gone 15 games unbeaten at the Bernabeu in the competition before tonight.
The doubts about their style of play and the succession of negative results leave Ancelotti and his coaching staff in an uncomfortable position. While the board didn’t consider making drastic changes following the Clasico embarrassment after all the Italian has achieved in the past three years, it remains to be seen how they can improve things.
The next game, the team’s last before the November international break, is at home against Osasuna on Saturday and will provide them with a good opportunity to regain confidence. But what is certain is that this is the toughest moment of Ancelotti’s second spell as Madrid coach.
Guillermo Rai
What did Carlo Ancelotti say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Real Madrid?
Saturday, November 9: Osasuna (H), La Liga, 1pm GMT, 8am ET
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(Top photo: Oscar del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images)
